Lennoxville Elementary students contribute to 25,000 Tuques project

About 45 students in Quebec's Eastern Townships spent an afternoon cutting and glueing old sweaters into tuques for incoming Syrian refugees.

The mixed-age classroom at Lennoxville Elementary School, which is comprised of students in Grade 4, 5 and 6, has been studying the refugee crisis as its educational theme since September.

When teachers Bonnie Smith and Isabelle Desbiens chose the theme early last summer, they had no idea the refugee crisis would play such a significant role in last October's federal election.

It became an opportunity to integrate current affairs into their classrooms.

"[Students] come to school very excited after seeing something on the news, or seeing a piece of writing in the newspaper. They're invited to bring all of this information in the class so that we can discuss it and look at it with a critical thinking frame," Smith said.

When students heard about the 25,000 Tuques project, they thought it to be a good match for their classroom.

Community donates sweaters 

Since most of the pre-teens didn't know how to knit, they found another way to make hats: by cutting sweaters in two, then gluing the seams together.

Parents and community members donated a pile of sweaters to make into hats.

"I had a sweater that still fit me, but I really wanted to donated it for the refugees because it's tough surviving cold when you're coming from a country where it's not that cold, usually," said student Alec Nadeau.

Other students were assigned to make pompoms out of yarn and write welcoming notes for the refugees to be put inside the hats. 

Exercise in empathy

Bonnie Smith says she's aware the topic of refugees is politically sensitive.

One parent has approached her, saying they were uncomfortable with the chosen theme.

"Our response was, 'We're children helping children,'" said Smith.

That's the lesson that's stuck with many of the students.

"When they come here, they're going to have nothing and it's going to be cold, so we're making hats for them," said student Olivia Bopaka.

In the end, nearly 100 toques were donated to the cause.